Knitted strand covering machine



June 22, 1937. w, LARKlN 2,084,770

KNITTED STRAND COVERING MACHINE Filed Feb. 15, 1935 6 Sheets-Sheet l June 22, 1937.

6 Sheets-Sheet 2 v l 4 I ml 1 9 I i 54 J5 54 35 3- I IN v If 1 UH J 2m '15 5 h l I I J r u I June. 22, 1937. w, RK N 2,084,770

KNITTED STRAND COVERING MACHINE Filed Feb. 15, 1935 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 swam June 22 1937. w L R 2,084,770

KNITTED STRAND COVERING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 lllllllllllllllllllllIl/IIl/IIII w. LARKIN KNITTED STRANb COVERING MACHINE Filed Feb. 15, 1955 June 22, 1937.

June ,1937. w. LAR'KIN 2,084,770

KNITTED STRAND COVERING MACH INE Filed Feb. 15, 1935 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Patented June 22, 1937 PATENT OFFICE;

KNITTED STRAND COVERING MACHINE Walter Larkin, Norristown, Pa., assignor to Fidelity Machine Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application February 15, 1935, Serial No. 6,731

13 Claims.

The object of this inventionis to provide a machine for knitting a tubular covering around a central strand or core, preferably, though not necessarily a central strand or core which is an electrical conductor.

It is also an object of this invention to provide in connection with a standard braid type of core or strand covering machine, a knitting head or unit with which the braiding head or unit may be replaced, so that in the same machine the strand or core may thereafter be covered with a tubular knitted covering. An advantage of this is that the knitted covering can be made without the necessity of purchasing an entirely new machine for the purpose. There are certain advantages in using a knitted covering for a strand or core over the use of a braided covering. In the resultant product the knitted loops may be flexed with the centralcore more often without breakage of the I yarns than the braided type of covering. In the machine a lesser number of yarns are used for knitting than for braiding, thus reducing the possibility of stoppage due to yarn breakage. In a knitting unit cheaper yarns may be used than in a braiding unit without danger of yarn breakage. The covering is usually later impregnated so that it is of advantage to be able to use cheaper yarns. The knitting unit canbe run at a higher speed than the braiding unit, so that the production of the machine is increased.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a stop motion which will quickly stop the machine in the event of yarn failure without injury to the productdespite the high speed of the machine and also a stop motion which will be unaffected by the centrifugal force developed by the high speed of the machine.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a general assembly side view of a standard type of wire covering machine in which the braiding unit has been replaced by a knitting unit,

Fig. 2 is a front'view similar to Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a plan view in section taken on lin 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a View showing the knitting unit per se,

Fig. 5 is a section of the unit taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 6 is a section of theunit taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 3, I

Fig. '7 is a plan view in section of the unit taken on lines 1-1 of Fig. 5, a

Fig. 8 is a plan view in section of the stopmotion unit taken on line 88 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 9 is a view showing the cam ring layout,

Fig. 10 is a detail of the stop motion taken on line HJ-l0 of Fig. 8,

Fig. 11 is a view generally indicating a central strand or core with a knitted covering and Fig. 12 is a section of Fig. 11.

In the drawings a standard type of braider has been shown, a type in common use, with the exception that the means comprising the braiding unit has been removed and has been replaced by the means comprising the knitting unit. This unit is shown separately in Fig. 4, and is designated generally by the character I in Figs. 1 and 2, and except for this unit, the means shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are well known in the braiding art. The known means will be briefly described so that the relationship of the novel knitting unit therewith may be clearly understood.

' The base of the machine, indicated at 2, sup- P rts the drum of wire 3 which is to be covered by the machine. This wire extends upwardly as indicated at 4 through the knitting unit I where a covering is knitted around the same, in a manner to be described, around the take-up wheel 5 for a few turns and then through the guide feeding device 6 to the druin 1 upon which the finished product is wound. The wheel 5 is supported in bracket 8 on the vertical posts 9 extending from base 2. The usual chain drive l0 through the usual means, not shown, drives the wheel 5 by engagement with gear II. The means for imparting power to the chain drive II) will be described in connection with the new unit I. Mounted upon the shaft I2, around. which the chain 10 passes and from which the said chain receives its motion, is the pulley I3, which by means of belt l4 drives pulley l5. Thus the drive 16, which is fast to I5, drives the wheel H which through the usual connections I8 actuate the screw thread 19 of the guide feeding device 6 to cause the covered wire to be traversed across the face of the drum as the wire is wound upon the same. The usual power means are also provided for positively turning the drum to wind up the wire.

Power is supplied to the machine by the belt 20 from any suitable source, driving the pulley 2| loosely mounted upon shaft 22. As shown in Fig. 4 this pulley 2| forms a part of the unit I, and is used in place of the original drive pulley of the machine. The pulley 2| may drive the shaft 22 by means of a; clutch 23 of well known type, which may be shifted by the hand lever 24 into and out of engagement or out of engagement' by the connection 25 from the stop motion, to be described. The shaft 22 has fixed to it, gear 26, meshing with gear 27, which. en- I gages gear 28 fixed on shaft 29 in the housing. Alsofixed on shaft 29 is the chain drive pulley 30 which drives the chain 3!, which chain drives sprocket 32 fixed on shaft 33. Fixed on shaft 33 is gear 34 which engages and drives pulley 35 fixed on shaft 82. It will be remembered that this shaft 1 2 serves to drive the chain It] and the pulley l3 and thus is power imparted for the take-up wheel 5 and the guide feed device 6. i

The means for driving the knitting machine unit will now be described. Also fixed on shaft 22, which is journalled in the housing, is gear 36 which engages with and drives gear 3? fast on shaft 36 also journalled in the housing. Fixed to the other end of shaft 38 is bevel gear 39 meshing with bevel gear 46. It will be noted that bevel gear 46 rotates in the main frame 4i of the'knitting unit. This frame has arms 42 and 43 secured, as shown in Fig. 3, to the back bar of the braider frame 2 and arm 44 secured to the front bar as shown in said figure. The three holes in the braider frame 2 in which the knitting unit frame arms are secured are the holes in which the braider unit was originally secured. Thus it will be seen that in making the change from a braider to a knitting machine unit that there are substantially no changes required in the machine other than the interchange of the units.

Secured to bevel gear by means of screws 45, Fig. 5, is the rotary plate 46, to which are fastened the posts 411, 47 which drive the cam plate 46 as the gear 40 turns. Secured to and rotating with plate 46 is the brake ring or drum 49. Located inside the brake drum, 49 is the one piece floating brake shoe 50 having the shape shown in Fig. '7. The action of the brake will be described in detail later in connection with the stop motion.

Secured to the stationary frame 4| is the base plate 5|, in which rests the stop motion ring 52, the upper surface of which has a series of cut outs 55 around the entire circumference for cooperation with the stop motion as will be described. This ring 52, which encircles the rotary plate 46, is normally stationary. Also secured to the plate 46 is the yarn bobbin support 53, here shownas providing for four cones of yarn 54, but obviously any suitablev number may be provided. The yarn supply is shown in position in Figs. 1 and 2. Centrally disposed and fastened to frame 4| is the member 6| having an opening which serves to guide the wire upwardly toward the needle cylinder. Hollow members 62 and 63,

which are supported from the stationary member 6|, also serve to guide the wire. The mem- 0 ber 62 is adjustable and is replaceable for different wire sizes.

Secured to and rotating with the cam plate 48 is the cam ring 56 for operating the latch needles 51 shown vertically disposed with the hook end down, i. e. the needles are inverted from their normal operating position. The needles have been inverted so that the knitted fabric .may be formed around the central core as the latter moves in the normal way for the standard braider, i. e. upwardly as described with relation to Figs. 1 and 2. The interior of the cam ring is shown in Fig. 9 where 58 are the needle raising or latch clearing cams and 59 are the needle pull down or stitch cams. It will be noted in connection with these cams that all corners have been rounded to reduce the shock on the needle butts at the high operating speed used, which is approximately 800 R. P. M. A two feed machine has been shown, but obviously the number of feeds may be changed as desired. Guides 66, secured to the cam ring, serve to hold open the latches and to feed yarn to the needles. The needle cylinder is shown at 64 and is slotted to receive the needles, the slots being tapered slightly with the deeper cuts at the needle, hook end of said cylinder. The cylinder is stationary and is fastened to tubular member 65 which serves to hold the cylinder in position. As shown in Fig. 4 member 65 is held in clamp 66, being adjustable by means of screw 67 taking in clamp 66, the head of said screw taking in slot 68 in the said member. The upright arm 69 is fastened in collar 16 on the cross bar 8, Fig. 2, and thus the needle cylinder is held stationary. The needle cylinder and cam ring are removable and different sizes may be used depending upon the diameter of the wireto be covered.

The action of the knitting unit has been described and it will now be apparent that as the wire moves from the drum 3 through the tubes iii, 63, 62, the needle cylinder 64, the tube 65, over the wheel 5 and onto the drum 1, that the knitting unit will act as described to knit'a tubular covering over the wire and that the finished product will be wound upon the drum 7. In Fig. 11 the wire is indicated at H and the knitted covering at I2 and this is shown in section in Fig. '12. It is the practice to later impregnate the covering with a suitable compound.

A stop motion, acting to throw off the clutch 23, in the event of yarn breakage is provided. Certain parts thereof have already been described and the -remainder will now be completely set forth.. As shown in Fig. 4, there are two posts 13 extending above plate 48 and rotating therewith. Fastened to these posts are the two stop motionboxes 14, 14, each of which may take care of two yarns. On each extension 18 of the boxes 14 is provided a post 15 with the pivoted lever 16 at the upper end thereof. Suitable tension is appliedto the lever by spring 11 acting on one end thereof; this tension opposing the pull of the yarn as it passes from the .cone over the other end of this lever I6. Also secured to each extension 18 is a fixed finger 19 having the extensions 86 as shown in Fig. 10. A pivotally mounted rod 81 has the falling finger 82 secured at its outer end, this finger having the extensions 83 which alternate with the extensions 86 on the fixed finger I9. Stops 84 and 85 limit the movement of the falling finger. The rod 8| is bent as shown at 86 so that as the rod isrotated, when the falling finger drops due to yarn failure,'the bent end 86 takes against the bent up portion 81 of the plate.98, thus causing the latter to move counterclockwise. A yarn normally passes between the projections I9'and 80 of the fixed and falling fingers, thus keeping the falling finger in upright position. In the stop motion box 14 there is the turnable stud 89 projecting through both faces of the box and having the key handle 90 for resetting the stop motion. The rear projection 9| is connected by the wire 92 to the drop wire 93. The stud 89 is normally urged clockwise by the U-shaped spring 94, one end of which, takes against the box and the other against the arm 95 which is fast to stud 89. Located-in arm 95 is the small circular opening 96 and the pin 91. Into the opening 96, extends the pin 98 fast in plate 88 and pin 91 extends into slot 99 of the latch I pivot.;d at IN to one face of the box. The end of the latch I00 has an extension taking in the catch I02 which is pivoted at I03 and has the arm I04 which lies in the path of pin 98. A light spring I05 urges the catch clockwise to hold the parts in the position of Fig. 10. When the plate 88 moves counterclockwise under the impulse of the bent end 86 of the falling finger rod 8|, pin 98 on plate 88 takes against arm I04 of catch I02 and moves the same counterclockwise against spring I05 sumciently far to release the latch I00, thus also releasing the arm 95 which it had held by reason of pin 91 in arm 95 taking in slot 99 of the latch I00. The arm 95,

' released, moves clockwise under action of spring 94 thus turning stud 89, which through connection 92 causes the drop wire 93 to move upward to actuate the stop motion in a manner to be described. It will be seen that pin 91 of arm 95 in moving clockwise will still be retained in slot 99 of latch I00 and that the plate 88 has moved with arm 95 by reason of the pin 98 taking in opening 96. Thus in resetting, which is done manually by turning the key 90 counterclockwise. all the parts will be caused to resume the position of'Fig. 10. When the machine rotates at high speed, say 800 to 1000 R. P. M., it will be appreciated that there is a considerable amount of centrifugal force set up by the rotary motion, an amount sufficient to set off or actuate the stop motion plate if the stop motion box were set in its usual horizontal position as in other knitting machines. It will be noted however that due to the vertical disposition of the stop motion boxes as shown that the same are unaffected by the centrifugal force. necessary to use two boxes for the four yarns, whereas a single box in the previous horizontal position would have been suificient to accommodate at least four yarns.

Referring now to Figs. 3, 5, and 7, there is a bent arm I06 pivotally mounted in bed plate 5I, the bent over portion taking in one of the notches 55 of the ring 52. The lowerend of this arm is fastened to the catch I01 and the spring I08 normally urges the catch counterclockwise, Fig. 7. Extending upward through the frame II is the brake shoe actuating plug I09, the upper end of which is reduced as at III), Fig. '7, and takes between the faces III of the brake shoe 50. The plug I09 is fast in the arm II2 which is held in position by screw I I3. Also fastened to the arm I12. intermediate the ends thereof, is the lever I id to which the spring I I5 is attached extending to any suitable part of the machine frame, the spring urging the lever in a clockwise direction. Attached to the end of arm H2 is the clutch throw off arm 25. Normally the parts are as shown in Fig. 7, i. e. the arm H2 is held in position against the influence of spring II5, by the catch I01 which engages a notch in the end of the arm II2. Referring back to Fig. 4, the lower end of the wire 93 is fastened to one end of the pivoted lever H6 and the other end II! is positioned above the ring 52. Normally the weight of the wire 93 is sufficient to retain the lever H6 in the position of Fig. 4 with the end III clear of ring 52, however, when due to a yarn failure the stud 89 of the stop motion box moves clockwise and lifts the wire 93, then the lever H6 is pivoted so that the end II'I comes into contact with one of the notches 55 of ring 52. Inasmuch as the machine. and lever II6, are moving counterclockwise, the ring will also so move. It will In this connection it has been be remembered that the bent arm lever I06 is also engaged with a notch 55 in the ring, so that counterclockwise motion of the ring will cause clockwise motion of the lever I06 and also catch I01 sufiiciently to release the arm II2. With such release the spring II5 will turn the brake shoe actuating plug I 09 clockwise thus causing the upper end I III of the plug to engage the faces I I I, III of the brake shoe and expand the same into braking contact with the rotary ring 49 to stop the machine. At the same time the arm 25, fast to arm H2 and connected to the clutch 24, is moved to throw off the power connection.-

A second stop motion actuating means is provided which acts when the fabric loads up on the needles or when there is a defective needle. This means is what is usually known as a choker and is shown in Fig. 6, the pivoted pointed rod H8 is set so that the end is just clear of the needles and fabric at the stitch point. It is latched in position on the stud II9 fast in cam plate 48 and held by spring I20. The wire I2I is fast to H8 and extends as shown through a hole in 53 to a position just over the ring 52. Normally the choker H8 is clear of the needles and rotates. around the needle cylinder in the position shown in Fig. 6. In the event of a load up of fabric due to any reason or in the event of a broken needle, an obstruction is formed in thepath of the end of the choker and when the choker hits the obstruction it is caused to pivot against the action of spring I 20. releasing the latch and causing the wire I2I to drop into one of the notches 55 in the ring 52. Inasmuch as the wire is rotating, this causes the ring 52 to rotate and throw off the clutch and apply the brake in the manner explained when the lever IIl caused the ring to rotate. The choker may be reset by hand.

Another distinct advantage in this knitting unit -is that the cones of yarn used may be of standard size as they come from the standard winder. There is no need, as in the 'braider unit, of rewinding the yarn from the standard size cones upon special size cones in order to fit into the machine.

Another advantage is that the needle cylinder may be replaced for different size strands while using the same cam box. It will be noted that the depth of each slot varies and that the bottom forms a taper so that the diameter of the circle formed by the needle hooks is smaller than that formed by the needle butts. To use a cylinder for a larger strand it is only necessary to provide the same with slots of a lesser taper so that while the diameter of the needle butt circle remains the same, thus allowing the use of the same cam box, the diameter of the needle hook circle is larger. The inside diameter of such a'cylinder would be larger. In this manner various size cylinders for various size strands may be used andmay replace each other in the unit, each working with the same cam box.

I claim:

1. In a braid type of strand covering machine, a knitting unit replacing the braiding unit to cover the strand with a knitted tube, the remaining active working means of the said machine working with the said knitting unit.

2. A knitting unit for a braid type of strand covering machine to replace the braiding unit to cover thestrand with a knitted tube, said knitting unit working with the remaining active working means of thesaid machine.

3. In a knitted strand covering machine, a

needle cylinder vertically disposed through which the strand to be covered passes, latch needles in said cylinder with the hook ends thereof pointing downwardly, and means drawing said strand 5 upwardly through said cylinder.

4. In a knitted strand covering machine, a needle cylinder vertically disposed, latch needles in said cylinder with the hook ends thereof pointing downwardly, a take up disposed above said cylinder and a strand passing through said cylinder, said take up causing said strand to move upwardly through said cylinder.

5.-In a knitted strand covering machine, a needle cylinder vertically disposed, latch needles in said cylinder with the hook ends thereof pointing downwardly and a strand passing upwardly through said cylinder.

6. A knitting unit for a braid type of strand covering machine to replace the braiding unit to cover the strand with a knitted tube, said knitting unit working with the remaining active working means of the said machine, the same means that positioned the braiding unit in place being used to position the knitting unit.

having a rotary cam box and a stationary needle cylinder.

8. In a braid type of strand covering machine having a take up, a knitting unit replacing the braiding unit to cover the strand with a knitted tube, the take up working with said knitting unit.

9. In a braid type of strand covering machine having a take up, a knitting unit replacing the braiding unit to cover the strand with a knitted tube, the take up working with said knitting unit, said knitting unit having means for operating said take up. p

10. In a braid type of strand covering machine having a winding reel for the covered strand, a knitting'unit replacing the braiding unit to cover the strand with a knitted tube, the winding reel working with said knitting unit.

11. In a braid type of strand covering machine having a winding reel for the covered strand, a knitting unit replacing the braiding unit to cover the strand with a knitted tube, the winding reel working with said knitting unit, said knitting unit having means for operating said winding reel.

12. In a braid type of strand covering machine having the full complement of working parts, a knitting unit replacing the braiding unit of said parts to cover the strand with a knitted tube, the remainder of said parts working with the knitting unit.

13. A knitting unit for a braid type of strand covering machine to replace the braiding unit to cover the strand with a knitted tube. said unit having means to drive the other parts of the braid, machine.

1 WALTER LARKIN. 

